


(aug. 2016 drabbles)

by natalunasans



Series: Smaller on the Outside [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka, Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Asexual Character, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Cooking, Crew as Family, Developing Relationship, Domestic, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Life Partners, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Relationship Negotiation, Sickfic, Time War Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-07-28 10:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7637341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalunasans/pseuds/natalunasans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>hoping to learn to write more concisely... might as well try this with my favourites.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. strength (Leela & Romana)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (prompt from @colinbakerstreet)

Leela is Romana’s bodyguard for only some of the usual reasons. Even in Leela’s time, humans are less strong than Gallifreyans.

Like the usefulness of the K-9s, Leela’s loyalty and speed-calculation of danger free the Lady-President’s mind for important things. Romana puts Gallifrey first, not like that _other_ TimeLord Leela protected.

* * *

Romana still marvels at the instinctive warrior: cautious in the manner of beasts, not bureaucrats. This coexistence has upturned Romana’s view of outsiders. Refined speech and rigid society lose their artificial brilliance next to skillful ‘savage’ Leela’s courage and curiosity...

Sometimes Romana thinks: there _is_ something special about Humans.


	2. strength (Leela & Romana)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (prompt from @colinbakerstreet)

The Doctor always wins, despite their stupid weak face (wide eyes, trembling lip) broadcasting excitement, fear, guilt and (beautiful)  _ need _ . 

The Master was strong, once. Even then, he always lost: conqueror of all worlds... except the Doctor’s will. 

The only other victory that matters is surviving: his stubborn speciality. Allied with the Doctor, together they’re (theoretically) limitless. Because sometimes “you are  _ so _ strong” is code for “I can’t help you,” half-solutions maintain the Master’s failing body and mind, like the bodged mechanisms of the old battered TARDIS. 

They see the universe in (ever smaller) times and spaces between bad days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i must've been doomsdaying harder than usual when i wrote this... either that or M "caught the darkness" again.


	3. cake (10/S!M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (prompt from @chromalogue)

The Doctor is so predictable. 

The Master could steal something, blackmail the TARDIS into generating food beyond his skill level, pretend he’s learnt to cook. The Doctor won’t be cross, just disappointed he couldn’t be arsed to try. The rules have changed: the Doctor’s sadness, once prized, now counts as failure. So the Master, indignant, brandishes a cookery book.

This sponge-cake layer looks defective: one side didn’t rise. Spread extra jam, Doctor will never notice.

The TARDIS buzzes an amused alert; the Master ducks. Projectile citrus bounces off a cupboard; he retrieves and rinses it, starts to make the glaze.


	4. cake (Alison & Shalkas)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (prompt from @chromalogue)

Sweet cinnamon smell wakes the Doctor… or provoked their last nightmare?  Stumble into the kitchen, vision blurry, desperate for a cuppa (strong, no sugar)...

The Master, infuriatingly alert, claps their shoulder (almost forgetting his robot strength), displays a Terran calendar: Alison’s birthday.

“But here, outside of time and space, do I actually age?”

“Yes... and no;” too early for astrophysics lessons, later they’ll lend her a book.

The Doctor watches Alison: ever more graceful and confident. Humans grow up so fast, and yet...  “We could pop back to Moonbase 4, invite that nice friend of yours for tea and cake?”


	5. pure morning (10/S!M, fluff)

The Master lazily drifts awake, no nightmare memories this time. His head on the Doctor’s chest, their heartbeats and his syncing to easily drown out the drums. He’s lucky today. 

Cautiously he moves sore joints, tries to lie back comfortably without waking the Doctor, fails. 

They roll towards him, eyes mostly closed, grinning.

The Master wriggles over, puts his face against the Doctor’s, reads their fuzzy half-thoughts, fuzzily agrees... Then presses and twists his beard stubble against their smooth cheek. Because he can.

“Vinvocci-face!” The Doctor grumble-laughs, rolls away, nuzzles into cool sheets. 

Soon he’s watching over their snoring again.


	6. timewar flashbacks (S!M)

after being re-loomed  
waking up in captivity  
it was  
_the last time he remembers silence_  
before they implanted the noise  
(drums of _their_ war, not yet his)  
and the false memories  
  
then allowed him  
in a limited capacity  
to rejoin the hivemind  
(their collective murmur   
drowned out the sound  
until much later)  
  
he wakes up?  
still seeing things that never were  
or might have been  
(shadows from certain angles  
could just as well be nightmares)  
  
wakes up! in the zero room  
this is the wrong body  
( _very_ wrong, perhaps)  
he’s wearing  
not gallifreyan confinement clothes  
but the Doctor’s spare pyjamas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1](https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalialove/28523078310/)   
>    
>  [2](https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalialove/28705235792/)   
>    
>  [3](https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalialove/28193893744/)   
>    
>  [4](https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalialove/28779865286/)   
>    
>  [5](https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalialove/28781487016/)   
>    
>  [6](https://www.flickr.com/photos/natalialove/28707982402/)   
> 


End file.
